


Adapt

by gingayellow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amputation, Gen, M/M, Trauma, canon-typical violence (for Star Trek: Picard)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22983505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: Once upon a time, Keith was a headstrong cadet who was only in the Academy thanks to Starfleet officer Takashi Shirogane. Keith does become an officer himself, but immediately resigns and runs off with a Romulan woman when he finds out Shirogane has been assimilated by the Borg. Keith is half-Klingon, so all of this should be impossible according the world he lives in. But this is also how he gets Shiro back. [Shiro/Keith, fusion AU with Star Trek: Picard. Assume spoilers, and warning for trauma and alluded to canon-typical violence for Picard]
Relationships: Shiro/Keith
Kudos: 6





	Adapt

**Author's Note:**

> Fusion AU with Star Trek: Picard, so expect spoilers for that series in this fic Written for [](https://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[hc_bingo](https://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/), The prompts are arrest, amnesia, wing, and wild card (loss of limb / amputation / mutilation). For those curious: Keith is half-Klingon bc lbr, Pidge is Romulan, and Shiro is an ex-B.

Title: Adapt  
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender  
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: Trauma, amputation, canon-typical violence (for Star Trek: Picard)  
Notes: Fusion AU with Star Trek: Picard, so expect spoilers for that series in this fic Written for [](https://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**hc_bingo**](https://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) , The prompts are arrest, amnesia, wing, and wild card (loss of limb / amputation / mutilation). For those curious: Keith is half-Klingon bc lbr, Pidge is Romulan, and Shiro is an ex-B.

According to all assumed truths and common sense in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, they should not have been on the ship.

One of these passengers was a young Romulan woman who, instead of being locked safely away in a Romulan education center or on earning her wings on a Bird of Prey, was currently hunched over a makeshift console. She also claimed that she had no connection to the Tal Shiar, yet knew how to hack their systems with an ease that bordered on terrifying. She hadn’t given him her real name, of course. That was simply part of Romulan culture. Yet the name she provided, Pidge, did not sound remotely Romulan.

Although a half-Klingon named Keith (named by his Human father) had little room to judge, he supposed. And despite all the necessary secrets between them, they meshed well personally and professionally, even with their respective cultures at each other’s throats. It helped that they had similar personalities: reserved, yet driven to the point of obsession. Each had their own intensely personal sense of honor. It also helped that they both had people they loved in danger, and their governments didn’t care.

Not to say they didn’t argue. They argued a lot. Especially about the third passenger that should not have been there, the ex-B and a lifetime ago, Starfleet Commander Takashi Shirogane.

“I’m not going to ask him anything invasive, I promise.” For once, Pidge’s tone was even. Maybe she was tired of arguing. “He was the last person to see my father and brother, Keith. I need to talk to him.”

“I understand,” Keith said yet again. “But now is not that time.”

“Yes, I get it.”

“Therefore, I must ask that you—wait. What?”

Pidge almost smiled. “We’ve been doing this for almost a week, Keith. And I’m an engineer, not a lawyer—believe it or not, I don’t like arguing a lot. That said,” and she gave him a padd. “This is a list of what I want to ask him. When you talk to him, all I want is for you to gauge if he’s ready to talk. Or at least getting close.” The almost smile fade. “Please. I still don’t know if my family was arrested or,” Pidge took a deep breath, “assimilated.”

“I make no promises,” Keith said. He wished he could, but Shiro came first. “But I will see what I can do.”

\--

Shiro’s room was a closet Pidge had converted into private quarters, since they couldn’t afford a bigger ship. It had a cot, and it had Keith’s fur blankets (one of the few gifts from his mother’s side of the family). In this room, Shiro slept, ate what Keith gave him, and looked at nothing.

“Hey,” Keith said, because he wouldn’t give up. He knelt next to Shiro—curled into himself, his hair was tangled beyond belief, and Borg tech where his right arm used to be.

It would be so much easier if Keith could claim vengeance. Find who had hurt Shiro, and rip out their heart. But the Borg were not warriors. Or people. They were a hive mind. There was no honor in leaving Shiro to hunt down a drone with no will or sense of self. Not to mention finding one drone out of billions was virtually impossible.

Instead, Keith would focus on the battle in front of him. Fight the ghost that plagued his friend’s soul, even after being freed from the Borg. “Shiro,” he whispered. “Do you feel like talking?”

Shiro glanced at him, just for a moment. “Maybe.” His voice was rough from disuse. “I don’t know.”

Keith would take what Shiro have him. “Do you remember… back then?”

Shiro laughed hollowly. “Enough to really wish that I had amnesia.”

“I will assume that means you have changed you mind about talking.”

“… Yeah. I’m sorry, Keith, it’s just—”

“Rest. We understand.”

Shiro made a rueful sound. “Maybe you do. I think Pidge is getting frustrated. I don’t blame her. It’s just… I don’t think I’m Starfleet anymore, so I could probably tell her about the mission. But after that… they.” Shiro shuddered. “They got to me quickly. I never saw what happened to the Commodore and his son.”

“I see. Rest assured that I will inform Pidge. You can stay here.”

Shiro leaned against the wall, left hand pushing his too-long bangs out of his eyes: one brown, one eerily blue (Pidge had made that, in an attempt to make him feel more Human). He wasn’t smiling, but it was a casual move that made Keith feel like Shiro was starting to get comfortable in his own body again, if only a little. “Thanks, Keith. You’ve grown up a lot since I last saw you.”

“Well, I couldn’t be a headstrong cadet forever.”

There was a bit of light in Shiro’s eyes (both the biological and artificial one, somehow) when Keith mentioned that. “Are you still an officer?”

“No. I resigned the instant they told me you had been captured by the Borg. I knew it would be the only way I had the time and resources to save you.”

Shiro closed his eyes in regret. “I’m sorry, Keith. You worked so hard to graduate.”

“The only reason the Academy accepted me was because of you. Don’t argue with me, we know it’s true.” Keith handed Shiro a small bottle of water. “You saved not only my life, but my soul that day we met. I merely repaid my debt to you.”

Shiro grinned. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

Keith grinned back. “Your bad sense of humor is back, at least.” Without thinking, he reached out, fingertips pressed gently against Shiro’s jawline. Shiro didn’t pull away.

And Keith wanted to close the gap between them, press his lips against Shiro’s, oh so badly. Because when he had been a headstrong cadet, he’d had a crush on Shiro. Everyone in the academy did. But the crush had never really gone away, and it wasn’t until those restless nights, trying to hunt down the Cube he was on, watching Pidge operate on him, that he realized attraction had turned to love. True love.

But he wouldn’t dare. Not when Shiro was still vulnerable. What Shiro needed was to know there were people who saw him as a man, not a machine. Then Shiro could decide what he wanted. As for Keith, he would protect Shiro. That was what mattered.

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice was soft.

“It’s nothing.”


End file.
